Maximum Ride: First Flight
by bookmaniac2013
Summary: Ever wonder how the Flock originally escaped from The School? Ever wonder what happened to them BEFORE The Angel Experiment? Well you're about to find out! A prequal to the series that i wrote a loooong time ago, still not finished.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Day 3,976, or something close to that. Another day in my short and pitiful life.

I opened my eyes to the boring, blue plastic side of my dog cage. From what I could see, it was still early in the morning; the Whitecoats wouldn't be in for a few more hours. This was my favorite part of the day; when it was quiet and still, and the only sounds were those of the others breathing in the cages next to me.

Just for the record, I'm not a dog. Or any other types of pet either. I'm a human girl . . . sort of. My name is Maximum, but most people just call me Max. I'm 98% human and 2% bird. No, you don't have to get your eyes checked, you read right. I'm one of six human – avian hybrids, who are tested and experimented on, in this hellhole of a science lab, we call the School. Those "others" I mentioned a second ago are the other hybrids. We all have wings, thanks to the whack-job scientists we call the Whitecoats, and we can fly. But besides all that, I'm just your typical 10-year old girl.

Now you might be asking, "if this place is so bad, then why don't you just escape?". I can answer you in just one word: Erasers. No, not the type that you find on your desk at work. Erasers are the one other successful genetic experiment that the School has developed. They're half-human and half-lupine, which is wolf for those of you who aren't very good at science. Erasers are bloodthirsty and attack just about anything that moves. They're used as the Schools security system, rule inforcers, and executioners. Along with the Erasers, there are ID scanners at every door, and security cameras too. If it weren't for these _minor_ issues, we'd have all flown the coup ages ago. No corny pun intended.

Though the odds are not in my favor, I've tried to make a few escape attempts myself. Obviously they haven't worked, cause I'm STILL HERE. They all basically ended with me being caught by Erasers and having my butt dragged back to my cage with no food or water for a few days. I try to keep the scientist on their toes, though, so I cause a little havoc every once and a while.

Suddenly the door opens and a Whitecoat comes in with two bulking Erasers behind him. He looks down at his clipboard before having the Erasers pick up my cage, as well as another. Looks like another day has begun. Boy, is it going to be a long one.

At the end of the day I'm put back in my cage, and brought back to the area where they hold experiments who aren't being tested on. A couple of the others are crying and whimpering. I try as hard as I can not to, though I'm still hurting from all the tests. I'll spare you the details, but I'll let you know that it included a lot of needles, and would probably give you nightmares for the rest of your life. A while later a guy comes in and gives us all our dinners. The special today was a few pieces of bread, a slice of some kind of meat, and a cup of water.

"Hey!" I said to the guy, " I ordered a hot dog and fries!" he just glares at me and goes on feeding the others. " Sheesh the service here stinks." I called after him.

I sit in my cage and start to nibble at the food, while I try to forget about the day's events. Every so often a Whitecoat or two walk by, other than the whimpering of the other creations, it's completely silent. There is never any talking. You can't afford to get to know anyone too much, because you never know how long they'll be here for. I've been here so long, and seen so many experiments get killed, or just plain die, that I learn not to get close to anyone or thing.

I lie down as best as I can in my cramped cage, trying to get in a somewhat comfortable position. I wrap my wings around me like a blanket, close my eyes, and drift off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

I woke with a start. There was someone shaking my cage. When they saw that I was awake, they stopped.

"Don't make a sound." Said the voice from outside my cage door. It was a voice I'd heard before, usually saying something that made my a little happier after a particularly hard day.

Jeb. He was the one nice Whitecoats in the School. He'd sometimes bring us food when they refused to feed us, and he always said hi whenever he passed my cage.

He quickly, and quietly undid the lock on my cage. I was about to ask what the heck he was doing, but before I could he'd already started opening some other cage doors. Less that two minutes later, the other winged experiments were all standing outside our cages, looking around suspiciously.

"Now everybody be quiet, OK?" Jeb said in a quiet, kind of anxious voice. " I'm getting you guys out of here, but for me to be able to do that, I need you guys to listen to me."

He went over to the door and opened it with his ID card.

"Well?" he asked as he held the door open, and gestured for us to get moving.

I figured, since I really had nothing to loose, what the heck?

I stepped forward and went through the door. I looked back. None of the other experiments moved. "You guys waiting for the Erasers to come and get you, or what?"

That got them moving. We made our way through the school, which was eerily quiet except for our footsteps. We only had to stop once, when a couple of Erasers passed the hall next to us. We all froze. No one even dared breath again till they were halfway down the next hall.

When we got to a set of big metal doors, we stopped to catch our breath. We'd only been going for about ten minutes, but it seemed like months since we left our cages. But we were almost there. These were the doors that lead outside. If we could just get past this and the huge electric fence that surrounded the yard we'd be home free!

Jeb scanned his card and the doors opened. It was dark and the stars were still out, it had to be early in the morning still. It was cool out. I opened my wings a bit to catch a warm breeze that was blowing. It was the greatest thing I'd ever felt. I probably could have stood there for an hour and just feel the breeze in my wings and look at all the stars; but we didn't have that kind of time. Soon, they'd discover that there were six experiments missing, and then they'd send the Erasers after us.

To my surprise, Jeb didn't lead us to the fence gate like I thought he would. Instead he led us to the loading dock, where they loaded and unloaded trucks. There, as if waiting for us, was a small delivery truck. Jeb opened the back of the truck and motioned for us to get in.

Ok, even though I sort of liked Jeb, he was still a Whitecoat, and there was no way I was getting into the back of a dark delivery van and having him take us just about anywhere he wanted.

"Tell us where you're taking us," demanded one of the other experiments. He was tall and had dark hair that matched his wings. He was carrying the smallest member of our group, a little girl with blond hair who couldn't have been more then two.

Jeb sighed. "I guess I shouldn't have expected more. You kids have been taught over the years not to trust anyone, even eachother. But for us to get out you're going to have to trust me." he finished.

I stayed where I was. "You still haven't answered his question. Where are you taking us." I repeated.

Jeb looked around nervously, as if he was afraid someone might hear us. " I'm taking you to a safe house far away from here. So far away that they'll never find you. You'd be safe. Now, please get in," he gestured to the van. "If they catch us, not only will I be fired, but you guys could be severely punished, or worse, and I couldn't bare to see that happen."

He seemed to be looking at me when he said that, which made me uncomfortable. Though I hate to admit it, he was right. If we were caught out here we'd all be dead.

Not seeing any other option, I climbed in the van.

Just as we began to pull out, all hell broke loose. They must have finally discovered our empty cages. Jeb started the engine just as fully morphed erasers started to come out into the yard. The van roared out of the loading dock full throttle. If they hadn't noticed us before, they surely did now. Through the little window in the back I could see that we were headed for the tollgate, which was being swarmed by guards and erasers alike.

Jeb barley seemed to notice them. He kept going full speed, right towards the row of people. He wouldn't run them over, right? I mean I hate the people's guts, but he wouldn't just crash into them like bowling pins, right?

Wrong. Just before he hit them, most of the guards jumped aside. The erasers who thought that they were tougher than the van ended up looking pretty beaten up, from what I could see. We burst through the tool booth gate and headed off into the desert.

We'd made it. We actually broke out of the place that had been holding us captive for as long as we could imagine. Just like that.

In the back everyone had gotten bashed around. Barging though a blockade isn't exactly a smooth ride. The little girl with blond hair was crying, as well as a little boy who looked a lot like her. The dark-haired boy was trying to calm them down, while the other boy and a black girl were trying to find something to hold on to. I was kneeling at the window into the cab where Jeb was driving.

He looked freaked out. He didn't loosen his foot on the gas pedal for about another twenty minutes. Even when he did slowdown a little, he kept going. Like there was some monster that would catch us if he stopped or slowed down too much. For all we knew he could be right. They created a whole lot of things at the School. There could be something worse than a bunch of Erasers coming after us right now.

On that happy note I sat down and leaned against the wall of the van. It was bumpy, but at least it was roomier than my cage had been. I didn't want to fall asleep. I was drop dead tired, but I was afraid that if I did, something could happen that I wasn't ok with. The others were all quiet. I think the littler ones had fallen asleep. I couldn't tell with the two boys. I don't know when, but I too eventually nodded off.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

When I woke up I was still in the van, but we weren't moving anymore. My mouth was dry and I was a bit sore from sleeping on the floor. The other experiments were still out cold. From what I could see out the little window to the drivers cab it was light out.

There were two things I was sure about. One, we hadn't been attacked since we left the school, since the trucks walls were bullet free, and were somehow still alive. If we weren't alive that was news to me, since I really don't remember being shot, stabbed, drowned or strangled in the past few hours. Just for the heck of it, I punched at one of the many crates in the truck to see if my hand would go through it like ghosts were supposed to. My hand hit the crate full force.

"OUCH! Crap, that hurt." I swore under my breath. I held my now bruised hand in the other. The sound of me hitting the crate must have been loud, because the other experiments started to move in their sleep. Ok I definitely wasn't dead, and I probably shouldn't use my right hand for at least a few minutes.

The others started to wake up. At first they looked a little dazed, like they couldn't remember where they were. Their memories must've improved after a couple seconds, because they began to look around cautiously.

"When can we get some food! I'm starving," said one of the younger experiments. She was African American from the looks of it, and had frizzy brown hair.

As if on cue, my stomach started to growl. I didn't know about the others, but I hadn't eaten anything since I was at the School, which had to be almost a day ago. The only problem was, none of us knew were to get food. At the School, it had always been given to us in our cages. Jeb would have to get it for us.

Jeb was asleep in the cab. He was slouching down in the driver seat, leaning over the wheel. Poor guy, he must've driven for hours. "Hey, Jeb, can we get some food, or something?" I asked. The only reply I got was a quiet snore. "Jeb, wakey, wakey. Come on wake up!" again he refused to wake up. Jeez, he was a deep sleeper!

I was starting to get annoyed; no more miss nice Max. "JEB!" I yelled. That woke him up. He sat straight up, whacked his head against the wall of the cab, and managed to hit the horn, all at once. If it hadn't looked like it hurt, I might have laughed.

"Ow, god," he exclaimed holding the back of his head.

"Sorry."

"Oh hey, Max, what's up?" he yawned.

" We're all kinda hungry, and were wondering if, maybe, we could get some food?"

"Oh, yeah sure, you guys must be starving back there."

With that he turned the key, which was still in the ignition, and pulled out of what seemed to be a parking lot, where we'd spent the night.

After driving for several minutes, he pulled into another parking lot and stopped.

"Where are we?" I asked.

" Wal-Mart,"

" What's a Wal-Mart?"

"It's a store, they sell a lot of stuff here." He looked past me so that he could talk to the others as well. "Now, I'm going to go in and get some stuff. While I'm gone, you guys stay here. If you hear or see anyone who might be from the School, get out of here. I should be back in a few minutes."

He got out of the cab and headed for the store.

And so we waited. I don't know how long we did, but it was long enough for us to start to get a bit nervous. It didn't seem like Jeb to go through all the trouble of breaking us out of the school just to abandon us in a truck at a Wal-Mart, but who knew? I mean, he was still a Whitecoat. I swear if _did_ leave us here I was going to find him and kick his sorry butt.

Just then, the back of the van opened up and we were all blinded by the burst of bright sunlight that now filled the back of the van. Since I couldn't see who the heck was opening the door I jumped up and prepared myself for the worst.

"Whoa, guys! Don't worry it's just me!"

I put my hand up to block the light from my eyes. Jeb was standing there in the back of the van with several bags with Wal-Mart printed on the front of them. When I turned around to look at the others I saw that several of them were also on their feet ready to fight. Apon seeing that it was only Jeb, they lowered their raised arms and a few sat back down.

"Okay, I don't know what you guys would like, so I bought a bit of everything." Jeb explained, as he began to bring out bag and bags of colorfully packaged stuff. Then out of another bag Jeb began to take out some clothes.

"I thought you guys could use some new clothes. The ones you have now look a little beat up." Sadly, he was right. Most of use were wearing the ratty, old clothes that we had been given at the School I – don't – know – how – long – ago. He handed all of us a pair of jeans that looked like they fit, along with a T-shirt. Then he handed me a small pink dress. When I looked weirdly at him he explained. "It's for her," he said pointing the little blond haired girl. " I don't think she knows how to dress herself yet. I was hoping maybe you could help her."

"Yeah, sure." I said.

"Boys, how about we give the girl a little privacy?" Jeb ask moving so they could leave the back of the van.

After they were out, the African American girl and me started to get changed. The jeans fit us really well, but I was having trouble with my shirt. It fit, but if I put it on like a regular shirt, then my wings were all stuffed under it, which was really uncomfortable. From the looks of it, the other girl was having the same problem.

Then I got an idea. I began to dig through all the different crates of science and office stuff till I found what I was looking for: scissors.

I took my new shirt and laid it on the floor of the van with the back facing up. Then I used the scissors to cut two slits in it at about where my wings were on my back. When I was done, I put it on my newly renovated shirt and put my wings through the holes. I moved my wings experimentally, to see if I could move them well enough. It worked perfectly; I could move my wings however I wanted with no problems at all. Man I was good!

"Hey, how'd you do that?"

I looked over to see the other girl still struggling with her shirt. It was half on her and half on one of her fawn colored wings. I tried not to laugh as I went over to help her.

"Well, I just used my superior knowledge and some highly advanced technology," I held up the scissors and grinned. "To slightly modify my shirt."

The girl smiled back at me, and I helped her out of her shirt. Then I showed her how I cut the back so that I could put my wings through it.

Once she was good, I went over to the little blond girl, who'd started playing with some unsharpened pencils that had fallen out of a box. I took her little dress, and cut it about where I though her white wings were.

When she was dressed, I started to turn away, but she grabbed the bottom of my shirt. When I turned around she had her arms raised and was looking at me expectantly. When I didn't do anything, she started to whine and hop up and down a little.

" I think she wants you to pick her up." Said the other girl, who looked like she was trying to draw fancy designs on the front of her shirt with a marker she had found.

"Oh." I replied feeling a little dumb for not thinking of that myself. I picked the little girl up, and she put her hands around my neck and giggled a bit.

We opened the door to the van and jumped out. It was sunny out, but not as bright as it had seemed when we'd first been in the van. As we got out and the guys went in to change into their new clothes, I stopped the dark haired one and handed him the scissors.

"Use these to cut slits in the shirts for your wings." He nodded and went to join the other boys in the van.

I looked around to see where we had stopped. We were parked far away from the Wal-Mart, in the farthest, emptiest part of the parking lot, where no one would pay us much attention. It had to be late in the morning, because the sun wasn't very high yet. There was a road on the other side of the parking lot that was packed with cars. Probably just normal people, going to their normal jobs, and living their normal lives. No wacko scientist, no erasers. Man some people were lucky.

Soon the boys came out dressed in their new clothes. Once everyone was there. Jeb got out another bag.

"Here," he said as he handed everyone a different color hoodie. Mine was navy blue. "Where these anytime you leave the van."

He then handed us each a pair of socks and sneakers that we all put on. Now, if you didn't know any better, we looked like regular kids. Despite all the new clothes, though, I still felt like a runaway mutant experiment.

"Everyone good?" asked Jeb.

We all responded with various 'yeahs' and 'uhuhs'.

"There's food in the bags for you guys. If you need anything else, just ask me. We still have a ways to go before we reach –" he froze and was staring at something that was behind us.

We all turned to see what it was he was he saw, even though I already had an idea what it probably was.

There, just a few hundred yards away, was a group of Erasers. They weren't morphed, but they still looked angry and dangerous.

"Get into the van now," Said Jeb without taking his eyes off of the Erasers. "But be quiet, we don't want to draw any attention to ourselves."

We all started to climb into the van as fast, and quietly as we could, as Jeb started towards the drivers' cab, head down.

Just as I was helping the little blond haired boy into the van, the Erasers noticed us.

"Hey! There they are!" one of them yelled.

We froze where we were as they ran toward us, and began to morph. Jeb started the engine, and hit the gas. I was nearly thrown out of the back of the van, and I barley kept my grip on the boys hand as he was practically flung into the road. I tried to pull him in on my own, but with the doors to the back flying everywhere, I couldn't pull him in without loosing my balance and falling out.

Behind us, the erasers were getting into their truck, and following us. Once they were close enough they pulled out guns from who – knows – where and began to take aim at me and the blond haired boy.

Just as they were about to shoot, Jeb swerved out into midmorning traffic. Several cars had to swerve to avoid getting hit by us, and even more honked their horns. The Erasers were still on our tail.

We drove down the freeway, cutting cars to get away from the erasers, who had began to shoot at random at us, but were yet to actually hit us. Instead they ended up hitting several other cars' trunks. Once they shot at us and hit one of the doors, and I had to turn away to avoid getting hit by the shower of sparks the bullet had created.

The African – American girl came over and held out her hand to the boy, who was still hanging on for dear life to mine.

"Come on! Grab my hand! We won't let you fall!" she yelled.

He reached out and grabbed it, and we both pulled him in. the dark haired boy quickly came and shut the flailing doors behind us.

We just sat there for a few minutes, trying to catch our breaths. I didn't realize for a while that I was holding the little boy to me. When I did, I let go of him.

"Thanks." He said.

"Don't mention it." I panted.

We must have lost the Erasers in traffic, because Jeb soon stopped driving like a maniac, and we were able to relax a little.

We continued to drive for another day or so. Staying in the van, only stopping for food, gas, or bathroom breaks. No one talked much, we really still didn't know each other well enough to have a conversation, plus the road noise made it almost impossible to hear anything anyway.

By the end of the third day, I was about ready to breakdown the door of this stupid van and just start going the opposite direction it was going. I was so sick of it. It wasn't terribly claustrophobic, but after living in a dog cage for ten years, I tried to stay away from small, inclosed places.

As much as I hated this god-forsaken van and everything in it, I knew I would never be able to make it on my own. Obviously the School was looking for us, and I wouldn't last a day on my own with Erasers around every corner.

I was about to ask Jeb where the heck we were, when the pavement under the van ended. We must have started to drive on a dirt trail, or something, because traveling got very bumpy. After another couple of hours we stopped.

We couldn't be stopping for gas or anything. We'd just filled up not four hours ago. I really couldn't think of any reason for us to stop. Unless…

The doors to the van suddenly opened, and Jeb walked in.

"What's going on Jeb? Why did we stop?" I asked.

"Because, Max, we made it. We're at the safe house. We don't have to run anymore."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

There was nothing terribly significant about the safe house. It was one story, and had white siding on it. Half of it was hanging over a cliff, supported by beams. The only thing that I could see that made the house any different than the ones we'd seen before was it's location.

We were somewhere in the mountains, or on top of one would be a better description. We could see everything for miles around us, which was a good feature for a safe house, I guess. Pretty hard to be attacked when you can see the attackers long before they can see you.

"Ok who wants to see the new house?" asked Jeb. No one said anything, so he just led us to it.

The inside was nice. There was a pretty basic kitchen that opened up to a living room that had several comfy looking couches, along with a flat screen TV. Against the wall were a computer desk and a few bookshelves, filled with a lot of thick books, which I'd probably never want to read.

"Then back here are the bedrooms," said Jeb as he finished up his tour. "The one to the left is the girls, and the one to the right is the boys."

"What about the one in the middle?" asked the African American girl.

"That will be my room." Replied Jeb.

That surprised me a bit. I hadn't really given much thought as to what would happen after we got to the safe house. I guess I kinda assumed that Jeb would just, kinda leave. The idea made me uncomfortable. Though we had been through a lot together in the last few days, I still didn't completely trust Jeb. Like I said before; he was still a Whitecoat.

We split up and went to look at are new rooms. Ours was painted a light pink, and had a bunk bed and a regular bed in it. There was absolutely nothing on the walls, and the beds only had basic sheets and pillows on them.

"I didn't know what type of stuff you'd want in your room, so I figured I'd wait till you guys were here to get some more furnishings," said Jeb as he stood in the doorway.

I nodded back at him and continued to investigate the room. There were two windows on the back wall, so I went to see what kind of view we had. As I looked out the window, I got a slight vertigo sensation. From our windows, you couldn't see any land beneath us. It was as if we were just levitating out over the canyon below; it was probably the coolest view I'd ever seen.

I turned away from the window to keep myself from getting even dizzier. The little blonde girl was crawling over the single bed, giggling as she bounced slightly on it. I guess she wanted that bed. I walked over to the other girl and asked, "Do you want the top or the bottom bunk?"

"Top," she replied, and went up the ladder to sit on her new bed.

That left me with the bottom bunk, which I was fine with, since I'd probably hit my head every time I tried to get into the top bunk, and I really didn't want a concussion every morning when I woke up.

After we were done checking out our rooms, the rest of the girls and I went out into the living room, to find the boys and Jeb already sitting there.

"Oh, good, we were just waiting for you." Said Jeb. "I thought it would be a good idea to get to know eachother, since we will all be living together."

Wow, he was seriously going to have us do an icebreaker? Even to an experiment like me, that was pretty lame. But I went along with it.

"Ok lets start by saying your name, your age, and… how about your favorite color? I'll go first." Said Jeb. " My name is Jeb, I'm 35, and my favorite color is, um, green. Now it's your turn." He said, looking at the little blonde haired boy.

He looked at his feet as he talked. "My name is the Gasman, I'm five years old and my favorite color is blue."

We all looked at him strangely. "The Gasman? Why do they call you that?"

He blushed a bit, but smiled, "don't worry, you'll know why soon."

With that we moved on to the next person, the little blonde haired girl. To the surprise of all of us, she actually started to talk.

"My name is Angel, I am three, and I like pink." We all stared at her open mouthed, but she just smiled.

Next was the dark haired boy. "My name is Fang, I'm ten, and my favorite color is black." He said without missing a beat.

Next was the other boy, he hadn't said much since we had escaped, and I was beginning to wonder if he could talk at all, which, form seeing some of the other experiments from the School, wouldn't be to far fetched. " I'm Iggy, I'm ten, and I don't have a favorite color; mostly because I can't see any." That took me by surprise.

"What do you mean you can't see any? Are you colorblind?" asked the Gasman.

"No, I'm totally blind." Said Iggy matter of factually. Then he moved his bangs so we could see his face better, and sure enough, his eyes were a dull shade of gray. "They were experimenting on my eyes … and it went wrong. I haven't been able to see since."

"Oh." Said Gazzy quietly, not looking at Iggy.

The next person was the African American girl. "My name's Nudge, and I'm eight, and my favorite color is purple – no wait yellow – or maybe orange! Uh, I guess I like all colors." She said and giggled.

Lastly was me. Ugh, why did I have to do this? Never, in my entire miserable life had I opened up and shared my feelings, unless they were rage or anger, which I showed on a pretty regular basis, usually directed at Whitecoats. But in this case I guess I didn't have much of a choice. Everyone else had gone; now it was my turn.

"Um, hi, my name is Maximum, but just call me Max. I'm ten years old and my favorite color is...oh, I don't know … red."

There was an awkward moment of silence until Jeb finally chimed in. "Well it's getting late," he gestured to the now darkened window. "I think it's time we all went off to bed. You'll find pajamas in the dressers in your rooms."

We all went off to our separate rooms, and sure enough, in the dresser were pair of PJ's for the three of us girls, along with an entire wardrobe of brand new clothes. Jeez, how long have they been planning to break us out of the school? It must have cost a fortune to buy all of these, plus clothes for the boys too, probably.

After we got dressed into our nightclothes, Nudge climbed into her bunk, and I tucked Angel, now half asleep, into her bed. "Night Max." called Nudge as I climbed into my own bed.

"Night Nudge." I said back.

About ten minutes later, there was a soft knock on our door, and Jeb popped his head in. "goodnight girls. Get some rest, tomorrow we start training, bright and early."

Training for what? I was about to ask, but he had already shut the door. Within minutes I was asleep, still unsure of what would be waiting us when we woke up.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

When I woke up the next morning, I couldn't completely remember where I was. Part of me knew that I wasn't in the School anymore, but the other half couldn't register where I was now. Then it hit me. Everything that had happened in the last few days came flooding back – escaping from the school, the car chase – all of it. Now I knew where I was. I was in the new safe house, in the room I shared with the other experiments Angel and Nudge. According to the digital clock next to the bed, it was still only seven in the morning. I could go back to sleep for a few more –

"Hey everybody up!" called Jeb from the doorway. Dashing any hopes of going back to sleep I had. "Time for breakfast, and then we start your training." I buried my head in my pillow to try to drown out his voice, but Jeb soon pulled it off. "Oh, I forgot to mention. If you don't go and get some food now, you'll have to wait till lunch to eat. So come on get a move on!" and with that he walked out. Now I was pretty sure why he was a Whitecoat. He wasn't the meanest person, but man could he shout orders!

I reluctantly got out of my nice, warm bed. Nudge was climbing down the ladder to our bunk bed and Angel was already up. I went over to the dresser that contained my clothes and looked through it for something to wear for this "training" that Jeb kept talking about. I settled for a plain white shirt and a pair of blue jeans, figuring that they were good for whatever we'd be doing. Just like I had before, I cut slits in the back for my wings to fit through, then helped Angel and Nudge get dressed as well.

When we walked into the kitchen, the boys were already there.

"Ah, glad to see you've decided to join us." Said Jeb from the stove.

We sat down at the little island/bar where the boys were eating, and Jeb came over and put food on our plates. I took one bite of the scrambled eggs and was in heaven. It was the best meal I'd ever had. From there I worked my way through two pieces of toast and four slices of bacon, all downed with two glasses of orange juice in less than five minutes.

After everyone had finished eating, Jeb lead us all outside.

"Today we will be beginning your training." Started Jeb. "You guys are going to have to learn how to survive if you are going to last outside of the School. The other Whitecoats have no doubtably sent out packs of Erasers looking for you, and as you saw the other day, they will stop at nothing to capture you, so you must no how to defend yourselves." He paused for a moment and looked at us. "I will be teaching you guys to fight, defend your selves, and to fly."

I couldn't help but laugh at the "fly" part. "You're going to teach us how to fly? And how exactly are you going to do that? Push us off the roof?"

" If that's what it takes, I will Max." he said, sounding every bit as serious as he looked. "The School has never actually tested to see if you are capable of flight, but I'm positive you are."

My god, this guy was totally insane! He thinks, that just because we have wings, we can actually manage to stay in the air long enough for it to be called flying. Oh this was going to be good.

"I think we should start off easy today," said Jeb "So, I'm going to teach you some basics, and then break you up into evenly matched pairs and see what you already know."

He went on and taught us how to block several different attacks, and how to properly throw some punches. It was one heck of a work out; by the time we were finished most of us were breathing pretty hard. We braked for lunch at noon, but went right back to training afterwards.

Once he thought we'd gotten the basics down, Jeb broke us into pairs. We would each be going up one group at a time, but Angel and Gazzy would just be watching, since they were the youngest.

The first group up was Nudge and Iggy. I had no idea how a blind guy was going to defend himself against anyone, let alone fight back, but maybe he'd surprise us.

The rest of us stood on the sidelines as Jeb began to explain the rules. "Now everybody listen, because I'm only going to go over this once," he announced. "This is just a test to see how capable you are of holding your own, so there will be no foul play, no biting, and no choking of any kind or the match will be stopped immediately, and the offender will be punished." He finished, sound a lot more like a referee than a scientist.

He retreated to the sidelines with us. "On my mark, you will begin." He paused for a moment, and I swear most of us were holding our breath. "GO." He shouted.

Nudge was off like a rocket. She began charging at Iggy full speed, while he just stood there. Just before she crashed into him though, he sidestepped, making her almost fall over from her momentum. "Hey!" she cried, before she charged back at him. Again he side stepped her, but this time he put his hand out and grabbed her arm, trying to fling her over, but she spun and used her free hand to punch him square in the shoulder. The power of the punch was strong enough for him to loose his grip on her, but not enough to knock him over. For another few minutes they spared back and forth, trying to land punches and kicks on the other, but most missed their mark or were blocked.

In a desperate attempt to gain the upper hand, Nudge tried to come up behind Iggy, but as she was about to tackle him he turned and landed a blow right in the center of her chest, knocking all the air out of her. That was the end of the match, and amazingly, the blind kid actually won!

Iggy went over and offered his hand out to Nudge, who was still on the ground, trying to catch her breath. "How did you do that?" she gasped.

"You make a lot of noise when you run, it wasn't hard to guess where you'd be." He grinned, and pulled her up.

We all clapped for them as they came over to the sidelines and grabbed one of the water bottles we'd brought out.

"Very good, you two, very good." Said Jeb, after he'd checked that neither was terrible hurt. "Ok, next up is Fang and Max." he said and looked at both of us. "This ought to be an interesting match, considering that you to are a little more closely matched, and given both of your past experiences with fighting."

"Cool," said Fang, as he stood up.

I just looked at him. What past experience could he have with fighting? He didn't look that tough. He was skinny, but he had some muscle on him. He was a few inches taller than I was, but I didn't think that would give him any advantage over me.

We both went and stood on either side of the clearing, just as Nudge and Iggy had done not five minutes ago. I began to feel the adrenaline pump through my blood, making my heart race. Though I'd given the Whitecoats hell back at the School, I'd never actually fought with anyone else.

I raised my fists; I felt my muscles begin to tense, waiting for Jeb to give the signal. Just because Fang was a fellow experiment didn't mean I'd go easy on him. I'd give it everything I had.

"On my mark," called Jeb from the sidelines. "GO!"

I ran at Fang full speed. I threw a side punch at him, but he easily blocked it, using the skills Jeb had taught us. I jumped back to avoid his counter punch, but it caught me in the shoulder. Pain spread through my arm, but I could still use it.

We began to circle eachother, neither of us wanting to make the first move. He yelled and ran at me. Just before he got within reach of me, I moved so I could grab his arm. I tried to pull it behind him so that he wouldn't be able to use it, but he spun and punched my hard in the gut.

Every last breath I had in my lungs instantly disappeared. I collapsed on the ground, panting hard. Now I was mad. I wasn't going to let myself get beat by this, this …boy! It just was not an option.

Thinking that I was down and out, Fang had started to walk back to the others. Big mistake. I yelled and charged at him. He turned around just in time to dodge my punch, which just barley missed his head, then grabbed my right wrist and twisted it. I gasped in pain as he turned it, making me fall to my knees. With my free left hand, I punched him in the arm, making him release my wrist. We both retreated a few feet, but I ran straight back at him. He turned around, and started to block for a punch. But instead of throwing a punch like he expected me to, I drop kicked his legs out from under him. He fell hard on his back, and before he had a chance to pick himself up, I pinned him to the ground.

I'd done it; I'd won my first fight!

We just sat there for a few moments, both of us catching our breaths, and just stared at eachother. Jeb made a coughing sound from the sidelines, and I realized that I'd had Fang pinned to the ground for several minutes, so I let him go. I stood up, but he just stayed there staring at me. So I offered him my hand.

"Good fight." I said.

"You too." He replied as he took my hand.

I helped him up and we walked back over to the others, who were clapping for us.

"Impressive," said Jeb after we'd gotten water. "You two are much better at defending yourselves than I thought you'd be." he paused for a minute, and I swear I caught him staring at me, like he had before. Jeez, what a creep! "Well that's all the work I have for you guys today, so lets pack up and head inside for some dinner."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

After we'd finished putting the training equipment away in the small shed on the other side of the house, we went into the kitchen.

"Nudge, Max could you set the table?" asked Jeb. So we started putting plates out on the table for the seven of us. "Iggy could you help me with the food?"

"Uhh, sure I guess?" said Iggy, who felt his way over to the stove.

"You guys will never guess what we're having for dinner." Said Jeb, who had his head in the fridge, looking for ingredients.

"I know what we're going to have," stated Angel from the living room, where she was playing.

"Oh yeah? What are we having?" asked playfully Jeb.

"We're going to be having spaghetti and meatballs, with breadsticks, and then maybe some chocolate chip ice cream later for a snack, you haven't decided yet."

Jeb had stopped what he was doing and just gaped at her. "How did you know that? I hadn't told any of you yet."

"I heard you say it in your head," answered Angel, like it was the most normal thing in the world. "I hear things in peoples heads all the time."

We just continued to stare at her. "Amazing." Jeb finally broke the silence. " It seems that Angel has developed a mutation in her genes, and it's given her the ability to read minds." he said.

"Cool!" said the Gasman. "Angel, what am I thinking of right now?" he asked.

Angel didn't even look up from what she was doing, when she said, " you're thinking that it would be really fun to make stuff explode."

"Whoa! That's exactly what I was thinking!" exclaimed Gazzy.

"Well, we're not going to be making anything explode anytime soon." Said Jeb, who was at the stove, cooking spaghetti with the help of Iggy.

I turned to look at Jeb. "What do you mean by she's developed a mutation?" I asked suspiciously.

"Well, when it comes to genetic engineering things can sometimes mutate by themselves, which, like in Angels case, can give them special abilities." he said.

"Right." I said and went back to setting the table, though my mind still couldn't stop thinking about what he had said.

After our dinner of spaghetti, which, as Angel had predicted, was followed by chocolate chip ice cream, we all crashed on the couch. Training had certainly taken a lot out of us. After watching some TV for an hour or so, Jeb rounded us up and sent us to bed for the night. Angel and Gazzy had already fallen asleep, so they had to be carried to their beds, and Nudge was barley able to walk straight, so I helped her climb into her bunk.

I put on some sweat pants and a T-shirt and climbed into bed, but I couldn't sleep. After tossing and turning for half an hour, I gave up and started to pace around the room. I went to the window and stared out it for several minutes. Then I got an idea.

I opened the window, and climbed out it. Being careful not to wake the others. I tried not to look down; it was a long drop to the canyon below. Using the top of the window as a step, I climbed on to the top of the roof. From up here I could see everything. It was a clear, warm night, and I could see every star in the sky. It was so peaceful up here, I felt like I could stay up here forever.

After lying on the roof for about ten minutes, I heard a sound coming from the other side. I stood up and prepared my self for the worst, i.e. an Eraser. I walked quietly over to where the noise was coming from, only to find Fang climbing up onto the roof, much in the same way I had.

"What the heck are you doing up here?" I whispered at him.

I grabbed his arm and helped him up. "What are you doing up here?" he asked right back at me.

"Couldn't sleep," I said. "You still haven't answered my question."

"I like to come up here at night." He answered simply.

I sighed and walked back to my spot and lied back down.

"This spot taken?" asked Fang as he sat down next to me. He made me jump; I hadn't even heard him come over.

We sat there for what seemed like hours, when a question popped into my head. I looked over at Fang; he was lying down next to me now, and then looked back at the starry sky.

"This afternoon…" I began, not quite sure how to word this. "Before we started our match… Jeb said it would be interesting because of our past fighting experience. What past experience could you possibly have?" I asked.

He just chuckled. "You think you were the only one who gave the Whitecoats a hard time? Next to you, I was the hardest experiment to control there."

" If they ever pushed me too far, or tried to make me do things I didn't want to, I would fight back." He said "they would lock me up afterwards, but seeing their faces as I kicked their butts made it worth it every time." He smiled at the memory.

I laughed a bit, picturing the faces of the Whitecoats. "Yeah, they think that just because they made us, they have the right to do whatever they want to us." I said. "I'd like to see how they would like it if we made them sleep in cages and did experiments on them."

"Ha, yeah."

"No hard feelings about me beating you?"

"Nah, you were good. I guess I'll have to try a little harder next time."

"Thanks." I said

We just lay there for a little while just taking in the night around us.

"So… what do you think about Angel's "mutation"?" I asked.

"It's cool, I guess."

"You think it could happen to the rest of us?"

"I don't think we'll be able to read minds." He laughed.

"Come on, I'm being serious! What if we develop mutations like her? Could I wake up one morning with an extra arm or something?"

"I don't think you'd grow a third arm. But who knows? We could develop mutations, but I don't think we have much to worry about."

"How could you not worry, though? We're changing in ways that the Whitecoats never predicted. What if what we change into is bad?"

"This is really bugging you isn't it?" he said sitting up on his arms.

I just nodded in response, as my tears began to build up in my eyes.

"If something does happen, which I doubt it will, then we'll just take it as it comes. No point in fighting what you can't change."

I was suddenly very tired. I didn't know how long we'd been up here for, but it had to be getting late. I stood up and stretched, letting my wings unfurl a bit and catch the light breeze that was blowing, which felt good.

"I think I'm gonna call it a night." I said look down at him.

"Okay."

"Aren't you going to go back to bed?"

"Maybe in a while, think I'll just lay out here for a bit longer."

"Well, okay. Night." I said before I climbed over the side of the roof.

"Night."

I climbed back into my room and shut the window. I tip toe over to my bed and crawl in. Angel was asleep in her bed, and Nudge was snoring quietly from her bunk. It wasn't long before I joined them.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

After a few weeks at the safe house, we all fell into a sort of daily schedule.

In the morning we would train. After having them watch for a few more days, Jeb let Angel and the Gasman join in the training. For little kids, they were pretty good, once Gazzy even beat Nudge. After we trained for a few hours we would have lunch, usually prepared by Jeb and/or Iggy. I thought it was weird that Jeb had the blind kid doing the cooking, but I figured it was to make him feel like he was doing something useful.

After lunch, we were free to do what ever we liked. Nudge and Angel would play together, but if they were playing a game it usually ended in tears because Nudge thought that Angel was cheating with her mind reading. Jeb or I would end up having to referee the games just to try and keep the peace. Thankfully after an hour or so, the two were back to playing, argument completely forgotten.

Angel and Nudges spats were the nice and calm part, though. Iggy and Gazzy were worse.

After watching an episode of Mythbusters on TV, the two discovered how to make explosives out of things they could find around the house. On more than one occasion they'd set off the smoke detectors, and once the actually caught one of the curtains in the living room on fire. Jeb wasn't happy about that. After that incident they were banned from using anything explosive or flammable in the house. So what do they do? They go and do it outside! Jeb gave up trying to control them after that.

I usually spent my time reading, watching TV, or going on the computer, that is when Jeb wasn't on it. All he usually did was do stuff on the computer. Whenever we asked what he was doing, he wouldn't tell us. We all knew it had something to do with the School, though.

Fang kept to himself most of the time. He would play games with us if we begged him, but for the most part he just disappeared till dinner.

Following dinner, we'd watch a movie from on demand, then go to bed. Well, most of us went to bed. I would wait for Nudge and Angel to fall asleep, and then I would climb out my window and meet up with Fang on the roof. It was becoming a bit of a ritual for us. We'd sit there and talk about the day's events, or look up a t the sky, and sometimes, we didn't say anything at all, we just enjoyed each others company.

After a few weeks of fight training, Jeb suddenly stopped.

"Now that you all have a basic knowledge of how to protect yourselves, I think it's time to move on to another subject." He said to us when we'd come out for our training. "I think it's time that you learned how to fly," he continued. "Now, I really don't know how to teach you to fly, so you guys are going to have to help me out, ok?"

We just looked at him like he was insane. Yeah, cause we all came with instruction manuals on flying ya know?

For the next hour, we all tried to find new ways for us to get airborne. We couldn't just start flapping from the ground, so we tried jumping straight up. It worked, sort of. A lot of time we ended up hanging in the air for a few seconds and then fell on out butts. By lunch, Nudge and Gazzy had made the most progress, and we all had sore rear ends.

Flying lessons went on for several days, and it seemed everyone but me managed to stay in the air but me.

"Don't get discouraged Max, it can't be easy." Said Jeb after several failed attempts.

I tried to practice outside of training, but I wasn't making much progress. I would spend hours on the side of the house where no one would catch me as I landed, very ungracefully, on my backside.

I tried to not let it show that it was bugging me, but I guess I wasn't as convincing as I thought I was, cause Fang caught right on.

"So, how are your private flying lessons going?" he asked with a smirk, one night on the roof.

I blushed with a mix of anger and embarrassment. "Oh, y-you saw that?"

"Yeah, nice landings," He said sarcastically. "But I think they would go better if you tried using your feet."

"Whatever." I'd heard enough; the last thing I needed was his opinion on my flying, or lack of it. I got up and walked toward the edge of the roof where my window was.

"Oh, come on. You know I didn't mean it!" he called, but I didn't want to hear it. "Max! Look, I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd take it so personally." He said as he came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder.

I shook off his hand and turned around to face him. "You don't know what it's like to keep trying something over and over again, but to never have it work right. Everyone else has gotten it right, but for some reason I can't. And I don't need your smart comments on top of it!" I practically yelled at him.

I felt tears beginning to well up in my eyes, so I turned around so he wouldn't see. I looked down at the canyon below. Then I got an idea. It was completely insane, but it was just insane enough that it might work.

"I'm sorry," Fang was saying, but I didn't hear him, I was already backing away from the edge. "I shouldn't have said those things, it was stupid of me I just – what are you doing?"

I was about in the center of the roof now, and I was lining my self up so that I was facing the edge of the roof that was over the canyon.

"I'm going to fly." I stated simply. Then I started sprinting toward the edge of the roof.

"Wait, Max NO!" yelled Fang as I jumped over the edge, and started plummeting to the canyon below.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Free - falling is the best feeling there is; there are no words to describe it. For just a few moments I just let myself fall, but the I realized that if I didn't do something quick I was going to end up a little splat mark on the bottom of the canyon.

I extended my wings and was instantly jerked upward. I was airborne, but I couldn't get control of where I was going. My nerves started to get the better of me, and I started to panic. I made a sharp left turn to avoid colliding with the canyon wall, and ended up doing a corkscrew.

After a few minutes I managed to get my flying under control. It was amazing. I could see everything around me.

"Max!" I heard a voice above me. It was Fang! He'd jumped after me!

I slowed down so that he was flying next to me. "What were you thinking! You could have been killed!" he asked me.

"Well I wasn't, and it worked. See, now we both can fly!" I said and sped up again.

"Lets see what these wings can really do." I said to myself, and pumped my wings even faster.

I rocketed forward and curved straight up. Soon I got so high up, I was in the clouds, and the world around me turned white. A few seconds later Fang joined me.

"What? Too fast for ya?" I taunted him.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He said

We just flew around the canyon for what felt like forever. It was the most exhilarating thing ever; I didn't want it to end.

"We should probably head back, before they notice that we're gone." Said Fang.

"Yeah I guess we should…" I admitted, disappointed. "Race you back!" I called.

We raced back to the house, doing tricks in the air all the way. We circled each other as we raced. I flew higher and folded in my wings and dive bombed, only to pull them out again at the last minute. When the house was in sight, we began to slow down. We circled the house three times before quietly landing on the roof.

"Well, that was fun." He said. "We should go to sleep. I don't know about you but that took a lot out of me."

"Yeah, you're right." I said and yawned.

We both headed to our windows and climbed in. Thankfully, Angel and Nudge were fast asleep. I changed into my pajamas and got in bed. I really was tired, but I couldn't fall asleep, I couldn't stop thinking about flying! I don't know when, but I did manage to fall asleep.

We spent the next three years living with Jeb. Honestly, they were some of the best years of my life. We began to become more of a family, instead of a bunch of runaway experiments and a scientist.

Once everyone had learned to fly, we'd all go out and fly around the mountains. Jeb, of course, would stay behind, but I don't think he minded, the guy needs some time to himself, right?

We'd almost completely forgotten about all of the horrible, painful memories about the School and the Whitecoats. Almost.

Every now and then one of the younger kids would wake up crying in the middle of the night from a nightmare about the School, or the Whitecoats, or the Erasers. It was during these nights that we were all reminded of why we were where we were. Even I had a few bad dreams, but I tried to keep them to myself.

Life was great. I felt like I was on top of the world, and thought that nothing could ruin what we had going on. All of us felt that way. Now days, the biggest problem we had was who got to choose the movie we watched at night.

Our days at the School were behind us. There was no way we'd be going back there. Or so we thought.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Gone. Jeb was gone, and we were alone. Again

These words kept going through my mind, but they never seemed to just sink in. I lay on my bed, eyes red from crying. It just didn't seem possible that one day he was here, caring for us, loving us; and the next be gone without a trace. Without any reason or explanation.

Now it was just the six of us; we are all that eachother had. It's not like we could go anywhere for help. The fact that we had wings pretty much eliminated that option. We were just kids; we didn't know what to do. Even I, who was the oldest, had no idea what to do next.

It had seemed like any other ordinary day, the day Jeb had disappeared. We'd gone out for a bit of flying, and as usual Jeb was left behind. After an hour or so, we'd come back, and well… he wasn't there anymore. We figured he'd gone out on one of his monthly trips down to the city to get food and stuff and just forgot to tell us. So we waited. As the afternoon started to fade to night, though, we began to worry; it had never taken him this long.

I took Nudge and Fang with me to fly around the area after it got dark, to see if we could see any signs of Jeb's return, but there were none. We went to bed that night hoping that he'd be there when we woke up.

Instead of the relief and happiness that we hoped morning would bring, it brought nothing but despair and sadness. We were all devastated when we realized the Jeb wasn't coming back. Nudge started crying on the spot, and Fang stormed off to his room and has only come out since for food. It's just starting to settle in for Angel and Gazzy, and Iggy hasn't said a word to anyone, he just sits there and listens to the TV.

There did seem to be something bugging Jeb, that last day. I didn't realize it then, but he did seem to be more stressed and jumpy than usual. But what could have happened to Jeb in the whole hour that we were gone?

I pushed myself into the sitting position, and just sat in bed, crying. We'd only lived with Jeb for about three years, but it had been the best years of all of our lives. Now that he was gone, it felt like there was a gaping hole in my chest. I got out of bed and made my way down the hall, not really sure where I would go, though every part of me just wanted to go get back in bed and stay there for the rest of forever.

I ended up wandering to the kitchen. At the site of the fridge my stomach started to growl. I couldn't even remember when I had eaten last; it just didn't seem to matter as much anymore. As I dug my way through the fridge, I noticed something. The house was completely silent. Not a noise to be heard.

I extracted myself from the bowels of the fridge, and looked around. The others were in the house as far as I knew. I walked over to the living room and found everyone but Fang just sitting there, doing a whole bunch of nothing.

What was wrong with these guys! It was like they lost the will to live when Jeb left. Someone had to do something, someone had to take charge and slap some life back into these guys.

I sighed. Why did I have the feeling that that someone would have to be me?

The next day I called everyone into the living room. Everyone just stared at me, with dead, blank expressions.

I stood up, and cleared my throat, not really sure what the heck I was supposed to say. "We need to do something guys. Look at us, we're a mess. Let's face it, Jeb's gone, and it probably has something to do with the School. So someone needs to step up," I look around at them. So far, I still had their attention. "We need a leader, someone who's not afraid to take charge, even when things get tough. I say we take a vote as to who of us would make the best leader."

I gave them a few minutes to think over what I'd just told them, then going youngest to oldest, asked for their votes.

" Angel, sweetie, who do you vote for?" She was quiet for a moment before answering.

" I think you'd make a good leader, Max," she said quietly.

I smiled at her. "Gazzy?"

" Max." He said simply.

" Nudge?" I looked at her, her pretty brown eyes still puffy from sobbing all day.

" Max I guess."

" Max is the oldest," added Iggy.

I looked at Fang knowing that at this point it wouldn't make much of a difference. " I'm pretty sure you know my vote," he says looking at me, his dark eyes giving nothing away as usual.

I was a bit shocked, "Well…" I was unable to come up with any other words. Never in a million years would I have thought of myself as the leader type, but since Iggy was blind, that really left just Fang and I as logical candidates. " I guess that means I'm the leader now." So what would a _leader_ do now? Umm …Rules! All leaders had rules.

"For my first act as leader, I'm going to establish some rules for everyone to follow. First, starting tomorrow, everyone will help keep this place clean," I say as I gesture to the house, which had turned into a bit of a dump in the past few days. " Second if you have a problem with anyone or anything, bring it to me. The last thing we need is for us to start going for each other's throats over a stupid argument. And lastly, I'm in charge. What I say goes, and if I'm not here for whatever reason, then Fang or Iggy are. Fair enough?" I look at them, and they reply with a chorus of 'yeah's and 'OK's.

Maybe this leader thing wouldn't be so bad. It'd be like … a Maxtatorship, a fairer, nicer version of a dictatorship. Oooohh, I liked the sound of that.

So, hope you like it so far. BTW I'm totally looking for a beta, so if you're interested or know of a good one, PM me!


	10. Chapter 10

**Ok, so I'm still kinda getting the hang of putting stuff on here, so bare with me! Here's the next chapter, dismally short, I know, but it gets better...I think ^^; (I wrote most of this over a year ago, cut me some slack!) Still looking for a willing beta-er so message me! I love reviews or ya know, just what you guys thought of the story so far, so you know what to do! Make my day...please!**

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

After a few days, things started to get better around the house. Since I was now the leader, it was decided that I should get Jebs old room. Cleaning out all of his old stuff was hard, though. I mostly just threw a lot of it out, I mean, come on he's not coming back. Anything that looked important I put at the very back of the hall closet, no need to keep it out, it would just bring back bad memories.

Thanks to my cleaning rule, the house no longer looked like a total pigsty. Everyone was required to keep their rooms in order and to clean up after any mess they made in the kitchen. Fang, Nudge and I took turns taking care of the outside of the house, while Ig, the Gasman, and Angel were in charge of keeping the living room and bathrooms clean.

Everyone seemed to be doing better then they had since Jeb disappeared. No one was fighting much and they all seemed mostly happy. For a new leader I think I was doing a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.

"Dinner!" I called. I'd thought since I was the leader now, I'd take over the job of cooking. It didn't seem like that big of a deal.

Once everyone was seated, I brought out the pan of lasagna I'd made.

They all just looked at it then looked at me.

"Umm, what is it?" asked Nudge.

"It's lasagna!" I said feeling a little ticked off, we'd had it before.

"Why is it so dry looking?" Gazzy asked.

"Ok, I may have left it in a bit longer then I intended to, but it's still good!"

"It smells funny." Angel said.

"Oh, come on! At least try it before you completely turn it down!" I exclaimed. I gave each of them a piece. They looked at it wearily.

"It's not going to kill you, eat." I said and crossed my arms.

Gazzy was the first one to take a bite, only to start gagging the minute he tried to swallow it.

"Or maybe it could." I whispered to myself.

Fang patted the Gasman on the back till he finally swallowed the piece of lasagna.

"Well?" I asked after he'd stopped. "How was it?"

"Are you trying to poison us?" he said. "No offense, Max, but that has to be one of the worst things I have ever eaten."

The others all tried a bite too, and all of them had a pretty similar reaction.

"Is there anything else to eat?" asked Nudge after she had spit out her piece.

"You want something different you'll have to get it yourself." I said, hurt.

"Don't worry, I'll make something." Said Iggy, who got up and headed towards the kitchen.

"But you're blind! How do you think you can cook any better then I did?" I exclaimed.

"I used to help Jeb, remember? I know a few things."

After an hour or so Iggy had made a new pan of lasagna and everyone was digging in.

"Ok, new rule," said the Gasman through a mouthful of food. "For the sake of the rest of us, Max isn't allowed to cook. Ever." Everyone laughed.

"Humph. Fine, Iggy can be the cook from now on." I agreed, but only because I was falling in love. With his food that is.


End file.
